Ze Tian Ji (Way of Choices)

Chapter 1061 – Beyond the World and the Starry Sky

Shang Xingzhou said nothing. Rising, he walked out of the room.

Prince Chen Liu paused for a moment before hurriedly following.

Shang Xingzhou took the stone steps on the side of the room to walk to the roof, which appeared to serve as a star observation platform.

A chilly wind ruffled his sleeves.

It was only at this point that Prince Chen Liu noticed that this monastery did not have a temperature-controlling array installed.

Shang Xingzhou raised his head up to the starry sky. He did not put his hands behind his back, and his blue sleeves blown back by the wind made him seem like a clown on stage. It seemed like he was about to crouch down and then leap forward, perhaps wanting to leap up into the starry sky, but his final fate was to comedically fall back to the ground.

Prince Chen Liu gazed at his figure, subconsciously comparing him to the Divine Empress on the Dew Platform.

“If one wants someone to die, one must first make them go crazy.”

Shang Xingzhou’s voice was as light as the wind. It had no flavor or emphasis, making it impossible to tell what he was really feeling.

Prince Chen Liu did not understand who he was referring to. Was the crazy one Xu Yourong or the emperor? And who was the person about to die?

Shang Xingzhou’s eyes gradually sank deeper into the sea of stars and he spoke no more.

Prince Chen Liu bid farewell. As he left the Monastery of Eternal Spring, he could not help but turn his head to look at that rooftop.

He was still not sure if he was correct in coming to Luoyang tonight.

His morning meeting with Xu Yourong in the Orthodox Academy and the words she had said seemed extremely deliberate.

That she had made him feel like they were deliberate had been a deliberate action on her part.

But if he had not always had these thoughts, how could he have been stimulated by these deliberate actions?

Over the last few years, he had hidden his ambition extremely well. No one knew of it, not even those who were familiar with him, like his father or Mo Yu. Even the Tianhai Divine Empress had only suspected but had never been sure. Of course, this might have been because she just didn’t care.

But he could not hide it from Xu Yourong.

In the Imperial Palace, he had always felt like this girl was looking at him rather strangely, as if she was smirking at him.

She had not exposed him then, so why had she said those words now? Why had she so deliberately given him this chance?

Prince Chen Liu could not miss this chance, and he also knew that if his response was the least bit improper, he would be regarded by Shang Xingzhou as sowing discord. As a result, he had been very calm and candid. It now seemed that this sort of method was correct. At the very least, it had not incurred any response from Shang Xingzhou.

So what should he do next?

Prince Chen Liu traveled overnight to return to the capital. By the time he had reached the princely estates of the Road of Peace, the winter sun was high in the sky and warmth was beginning to permeate the air.

It seemed that the winter truly was about to pass, that the season of renewal had arrived.

Prince Chen Liu was somewhat emotional as he walked into the estate.

“You should be well aware that the Holy Maiden want to use us to force His Majesty to stand on the Pope’s side.”

The Prince of Xiang stared into his eyes and asked, “This being the case, why did you still go to Luoyang?”

“Yourong has always been fair in her actions. Even her schemes have always been open and aboveboard.”

Prince Chen Liu was already extremely calm. Even the icy eyes of his father could not affect his expression.

“A wildfire¹ truly is frightening, but if we did not have this fire, we wouldn’t even have a chance to rescue the grain from the flames.” (TN: Ambition, 野心, literally translates to ‘wild heart’ or ‘unrestrained heart’, and wildfire is 野火 which literally translates as ‘wild fire’.)

The Prince of Xiang’s eyes suddenly turned mad, glimmering with a fiery light, but his voice went cold. “But did this thought ever occur to you? Victory can only be obtained from the middle of chaos, but does she have the ability to disorder the venerable Daoist’s heart?”

Prince Chen Liu replied, “I understand Yourong. Even if the venerable Daoist wins in the end, it will be a bitter victory.”

There was a pause, then the Prince of Xiang asked, “Then when do you think this will begin?”

Prince Chen Liu replied, “From the moment she arranged to meet with me in the Orthodox Academy, the chess game had begun. Her visit to the palace last night was her lethal move!”

The Prince of Xiang perked his brows. “A lethal move?”

Prince Chen Liu said, “Yes. This move was a move to win the world, and so the world must be used to respond to it.”

The Prince of Xiang sighed, “So the storm was already here.”

“Only after the storm passes can one see the rainbow.”

Prince Chen Liu continued, “When I was little, the Empress taught me that rainbows came from the sun, and we are the descendants of the sun.”

The Prince of Xiang understood what he meant. He stared into his son’s eyes and said, “His Majesty’s blood is equally pure.”

Prince Chen Liu noted, “But he is still a cripple.”

The wildfire burning in the Prince of Xiang’s eyes was gradually extinguished, but just like his son, the ambitions that he had long concealed gradually began to emerge.

He asked, “When the time comes, will His Holiness agree?”

Prince Chen Liu said, “If Yourong loses, His Holiness will naturally not survive.”

“The last question.”

The Prince of Xiang asked, “You never said what would happen if the Holy Maiden wins.”

Prince Chen Liu grinned and said, “Other than the complete extermination of the clan, what sort of price could match up to this chess game for the world?”

The Prince of Xiang was quiet for a very long time, and then he began to laugh. As he gave this self-mocking laughter, the ambition in his eyes gradually scattered and his expression turned mild, his round face becoming as pleasant and amiable as an old farmer or landlord.

He held his portly belly with his hands and ruefully said, “It seems like we’ll have to quickly carry out the marriage between you and Ping.”

……

……

The Li Palace in the early morning was extremely quiet.

The sound of dry bamboo brushes sweeping across the hard stone could be heard in the distance.

Chen Changsheng opened his eyes. He pensively looked up at the complicated and somewhat incomprehensible carvings on the ceiling.

He had woken up before five o’clock. This was extremely rare. He had not immediately gotten out of bed upon waking. This was even rarer.

Lazing in bed was a grand pleasure that many youths partook in, but to him, this was unquestionably an extremely irresponsible waste of time that would fill him with disgust.

The reason he did not get out of bed was that this was his first day staying in the Li Palace.

He was still somewhat a stranger to his surroundings, somewhat ill-adapted to them, and even a tiny bit afraid. He didn’t know where he should go after getting out of bed to wash his face, how he would be served, or even where the clothes he had taken off last night had been put.

He also did not know what Xu Yourong had discussed with his senior brother last night.

It was only after the greater part of the skywell in the outer hall was illuminated by the winter sun that he finally decided to rise.

The first person he saw was An Hua.

The thousands of believers who had come to offer their petitions in candlelight had finally been persuaded to leave late in the night, but An Hua had not left.

She had already spent half the night in the hall. Her eyes were rather red, though it was hard to say if it was from fatigue or from crying.

“With regards to your aunt, it seems like this was the only way.”

Chen Changsheng took the Daoist clothes from her hand. Seeing her reddened eyes, he apologetically said, “I hope that you won’t blame me.”

An Hua quickly replied, “I cannot possibly blame Your Holiness.”

Chen Changsheng could tell that she was not lying. Confused, he asked, “Then why are you sad?”

An Hua lowered her head and asked, “Is Your Holiness truly prepared to leave?”

In many of the dynasties preceding the Great Zhou, the Daoist faith had also been the Orthodoxy, and many Popes had appeared throughout history.

The Pope had no term limits. Until they returned to the sea of stars, they would always be the divine ruler of the entire Orthodoxy.

However, of the Popes throughout history, there truly were a few who, either because they did not want to be entangled by secular matters while they pursued the Great Dao or were dejected by certain matters, decided to end their terms early, choosing either to hide from the world or venture to the other shore of the sea of stars.

As a child, An Hua had studied in the Thirteen Divisions of Radiant Green, and as an adult, she was a teacher. She had devoted the entirety of her youth to the Orthodoxy and could even recite a few of the scriptures from back to front. She was naturally aware of these records. The more she thought about Chen Changsheng’s words in the Great Hall of Light, the more she believed that Chen Changsheng might choose this path. She was very nervous and uneasy, and even Tang Thirty-Six’s soothing words ceased to have an effect on her. In one night, she had wept many times.

Chen Changsheng gazed up at that piece of sky cut out by the roofs.

He once more recalled that black night like the mouth of a well he had sensed that night from the other end of the sea of stars.

He would bear the responsibilities he had to bear.

But after doing these things, if there were even farther places to visit, he naturally had to go and take a look around.

^{1. Ambition, 野心, literally translates to ‘wild heart’ or ‘unrestrained heart’, and wildfire is 野火 which literally translates as ‘wild fire’.↩}